Hi everyone
Can I share a bit of a secret? I don't really believe in "viral marketing".
Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of a fantastic campaigns that people want to spread around to everyone they know, because they are so useful, fun, or just so damn cool. But that's not what I'm talking about.
The Viral Myth
The viral marketing campaigns I dislike are, as Paul Kedrosky says, "not the end result of an actual idea or strategy but are born of a desperate desire to do something, anything, in the new-media space." It happens when we see something like Moonwalking Bear, Nike Next Level or BudTV Swear Jar - and we all think wow, that's cool.
They got high viewing numbers, great buzz on the web and they have every marketer and agency licking their lips about making a big splash for a relatively small investment . Yep we all think , I gotta "Get me one of those".
Hey after all, as Jacob Wolfsheimer asks in his post, internet marketers goal is to create downright viral content, right? "Wrong. Content going Viral isn’t necessarily the goal, it’s often a by-product of well positioned content. The goal is to create well positioned content and prep it for at least some viral success."
So here is the issue. Are we so obsessed with producing the next big viral hit, that we are deluding ourselves that this is where the focus of our next digital marketing campaign should be? Especially when it seems we can get such a big bang for a relatively smaller buck?
I think we are, and I think this viral logic is like an amateur gambler riding their luck in Las Vegas. Actually , I think the gambler has a better chance of hitting the jackpot than many viral campaigns have of taking off. Here is my personal opinion why.
What's wrong with Viral?
1. Successful viral content often doesn't equal great marketing content: Look at the top 10 viral campaigns last year and what you generally see is that in order to succeed you need to tone down (or remove) the brand or product and play up the entertainment value. Sure I am a huge fan of fun, but most brands want to focus more on the core message than just give entertainment value. Look at this popular viral Amazing Catch from Gatorade recently. Cool, well shot, and fun. Did you see the Gatorade tie in? No, neither did I.
2. Viral marketing is often a one-hit pony: I'm sure I will annoy some ad people when I say I really didn't like the Gorilla Cadbury on principle. Sure it's fun, but as marketing I thought it was lazy and gratuitous, I just didn't get the brand connection strongly. So any kind of enjoyment = Cadbury? Not for me. And now after seeing the follow up campaigns for Cadbury it just re-confirms my view. A one off bit of fun. Most virals have a brand or product message as an add-on, they are not front and centre. People barely realize the brand made it in the first place.
3. Viral success is often by chance or a cynical numbers game: Which brings me to my next point. Really what is popular virally is original and unbranded content. That's what media like YouTube were created for in the first place, so the problem is the need to make it viral by minimizing the brand elements. Its success is then based on its ability to entertain rather than provide a message. And after reading this cynical article, 'the secret strategies behind many viral videos' on how many brands boost their viewings on YouTube, success often comes from manipulating the system to get the highest number of views anyway. Shameful marketing.
4. What do you really get from your viral campaign?: Even after all of this, if we produce a great campaign that gets millions of views on YouTube, what does that mean for our campaign? I mentioned the great swear jar campaign for Bud TV at the beginning. Well BudTV just closed down. The fact is the maximum viewings doesn't mean better metrics for the product or service, better awareness or better sales.
In Content Gone Viral, Jackie Peters argues that rather than hitting 5 million of everyone, shouldn't we be hitting the 50,000 people that really matter to us with an engaging, relevant message? At some point, especially in digital, quality content matters.
Content Matters
In Joseph Jaffe's great ADWeek article ' Why most viral marketing amounts to lazy, clueless chatter ' he is brutally honest about viral marketing when he writes: " I'm not terribly sure that it's predictable or reliable to plan for this kind of spreading of the word and, even more troubling, I'm not convinced that it actually works."
"Here's the thing: In this day and age, all content has the ability to be wildly viral, that is, embraced, internalized, evangelized and disseminated. Rather than plan with the end in mind, might I suggest instead that we focus on the idea itself and the means to achieve that end. In other words, getting back to basics to generate compelling, relevant and engaging content and then liberating it to be embedded, hacked, mashed and showcased accordingly."
I couldn't agree more. Let's get back to creating brilliant content, knowing who our audience is, defining success and yes making it easier to share. And let's worry less about hitting the YouTube jackpot in the hope that somehow, that will translate into success for our brands.
Do you agree? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Rob, thanks for sharing great article! I'm educated about Viral Marketing. I like the fact that you are honest with what Viral Marketing can do and cannot do. Seems like brand-managers gotta know this and tone down their imagination how Viral marketing will help.
ReplyDeleteBut there is the light at the end of the tunnel: focusing on the real target audience with the Content that matters to them, rather than going globally but failing to sell :)
Last but not least, there is always a tug-of-war between brand-managers and creative agencies. But to me, after all, the successful viral marketing campaign to ALL is the campaign that helps sell products!
Van
Thanks Van. Yep I think we do need to keep the right end goal in mind. As I was saying to a colleaguthere are campaigns that go viral and we should all aim for that - as long as getting max views on YouTube is not the only focus.
ReplyDeleteCheers, rob